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Triple Play: A Jake Hines Mystery [Mass Market Paperback]

Elizabeth Gunn
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 7.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 25. Details
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Book Description

Nov 10 1998 Jake Hines Mysteries
He lives just outside Minneapolis/St. Paul, where the city meets the prairie, where the winters are long, the men are rugged, and a stubborn detective with a murky past is a little out of place.  But Jake Hines has to worry about more than just fitting in: there's a serial killer on the loose.

The first victim was found on home plate in a neighborhood park.  The next wore an old softball uniform and an obscene disfigurement.  While Jake, a man who can solve any mystery except that of his own orphaned past, rummages through the dirty laundry of people's lives, a group of high-tech crime busters descends from the big city--thrilled at the chance to dance with a serial psycho.  But even with a beautiful crime-scene photographer providing a major distraction, Jake takes no pleasure from this hunt.  Because this killer is pulling him relentlessly toward one more murder, one more suspect, and one very bitter truth.  .  .  .

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Product Description

From Library Journal

Gunn's first novel features Detective Jake Hines, a smart, likable, and intuitive individual of mixed-race who has become an indispensable part of the city police force in Rutherford, Minnesota. A particularly vicious and ritualistic serial murder case grabs the town's attention: the killer poses each victim in vintage baseball uniforms and equipment and removes some body part. While Jake tries to translate the killer's message, the town threatens to go ballistic. A refreshing protagonist, a novel setting, and the fascinating case add appeal to a solid police procedural.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Though it's a good two hours from Minneapolis, Rutherford, Minn., doesn't lack for baseball action. In the striking opening scene of this debut mystery, for instance, James Wahler is out at home. He's been strangled, gelded, dressed in a softball uniform and a pair of old-fashioned cleats, and transported to Pioneer Park, where he's been arranged astride home plate with a baseball bat substituting for his lost manhood and a Polaroid of the crime scene helpfully pinned to his uniform chest. Though Detective Jake Hines has no more idea what the tableau means than why Wahler spent several hours after death propped up on his feet, the scene has been so deliberately set that most readers will be a lot less surprised than he is when a second victim is called out at Willow Creek Park: Louis (Frenchy) LaPlante, who's splayed up against the backstop in a similar uniform, with a similarly convenient photograph, only the postmortem mutilations being different. While they're waiting for the inevitable third out, Jake and his hard-working colleagues interview the dead men's families, chase down dozens of dead-end leads, and watch in admiration (mingled, in Jake's case, with lust) over the solid, if unspectacular, crime-scene work of attractive photographer Trudy Hanson and her gung-ho crime lab colleague Jimmy Chang. An unusually assured kickoff to Gunn's new series of procedurals. And if the murder motive is a little hoary, Jake comes up with it before you have time to get bored with an unassuming cast who could easily turn into welcome regulars. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars Straightforward Police Procedural. Jan 1 2001
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Triple Play is an easy read. The story starts out strong with an interesting murder mystery, an unidentified and mutilated corpse is discovered in a staged crime scene at the ball park in a small southern Minnesota town. Jake Hines, local police detective, is on the case. Before he gets very far, another body turns up. And then another.

Elizabeth Gunn has a strong and unique voice. Smatterings of humor, small town wisdom, and the-paths-we-choose-in-life irony spice the text up nicely. The police procedures come off as realistic, not overcooked or overstated. Jake Hines fits his setting. This is not Dirty Harry. Her choice to accept the challenge of female writer with male protagonist is interesting. She pulls this off very well. I thought her description of Jake Hines' role in his own failed marriage was quite insightful.

The book is relatively short, and I have to admit, I was getting a bit worried near the end that Gunn was going to leave the tale one twist short. It was beginning to look too obvious. But then she delivers. The mystery is not what appears obvious, and Jake Hines actually uses his brain (not his gun) to solve it. She then ties all the loose ends neatly. Triple Play finishes very strong, and leaves plenty of room for further development of the protagonist in the series ahead. Mystery fans will be satisfied. -Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Great Beginning to a Series Aug 27 2000
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
In Triple Play, Elizabeth Gunn writes, "Sometimes on late-May mornings in Rutherford, you can hear the grass grow." These words, from the mouth of the first person point of view main character, belie the true nature of conditions in the small Minnesota town where mutilated bodies show up in normally tranquil settings.

Triple Play, first of a series that is bound to be around for a long time, introduces Jake Hines. Jake, the detective who systematically solves Ms. Gunn's cleverly devised, and often heinous homicides is one of those low key characters you grow to love, and will pine for until the next novel is published. As engaging as Jake is, however, there is one character that I can't seem to get enough of. His full name is Adrian Pokornoskovic, nickname (thankfully) Pokey. The Ukrainian immigrant is "peaceful" Rutherford's part time coroner, most famous, however, for the way he dismembers the English language. As in, "Well, cripes, ain't that way cool?" or how about, "Hey, Jake, what's shakin', baby?"

A really funny guy, lovable cop, incontrovertible forensics, and neat twists add up to one fine read and a guaranteed good time for all mystery fans.

E. J. McGill, Author of Immaculate in Black

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, well-plotted mystery Dec 6 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I read Par Four first and liked it so much that I bought this one and read it -- well-plotted, kept my interest. Elizabeth is such a good writer that Jake Hines, the protagonist, can act like a professional and doesn't have to do stupid things to force a resolution to the mystery. Just wish the books were longer as I now have to wait for number three in the series.
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